Former Vice President Atiku Abubakar has accused President Bola Tinubu of failing to address Nigeria’s worsening insecurity, saying the President “cannot govern by hiding corpses” amid rising cases of killings, kidnappings, and attacks across the country.
Atiku made the remarks in a statement issued on Tuesday by his Senior Special Assistant on Public Communication, Phrank Shaibu, in reaction to the abduction of schoolchildren and teachers in Ogbomoso, Oyo State, and the killing of residents in Katsina State, including a pregnant woman.
The former vice president condemned the incidents in strong terms, describing them as further evidence that Nigeria is “bleeding under a government that has reduced leadership to post-tragedy press statements.”
He expressed deep sorrow over the reported killing of one of the abducted teachers in Ogbomoso, saying the continued violence reflects both a breakdown of security and a collapse of leadership at the highest level.
“At a time when armed criminals are abducting schoolchildren, slaughtering innocent citizens, and turning communities into graveyards, President Tinubu’s response remains the same tired ritual: condemn the killings, threaten the ‘full wrath of the law,’ and wait for the next massacre,” the statement read.
“Nigerians have heard this script too many times. It has become painfully predictable and utterly meaningless.
“President Tinubu must stop governing by obituary statements.
“Enough of recycled outrage. Enough of empty threats. Nigerians are dying, and this government keeps responding with press releases.
“A President who only finds his voice after blood has been spilled is not leading but presiding over failure.”
Atiku, who is a chieftain of the African Democratic Congress (ADC) and a 2027 presidential aspirant, said the Ogbomoso abduction and the killings in Katsina were part of a broader national pattern in which criminals now operate with impunity.
“These incidents are not isolated. They reflect a grim national pattern in which criminals operate with terrifying confidence because they no longer fear the Nigerian state,” he said.
“When terrorists can invade schools, abduct children and teachers, massacre communities, and escape without consequence, it is because the authority of the state has collapsed.”
He also questioned repeated government assurances that perpetrators would face justice, asking what comfort such statements offer grieving families.
“What comfort is ‘the full wrath of the law’ to families burying their loved ones? What solace is another presidential statement to parents who fear sending their children to school may be a death sentence?” he asked.
Atiku further raised concerns over alleged attempts to suppress images and reports of violent attacks from public view.
“If this government is more interested in censoring evidence of mass killings than preventing the killings themselves, then that is not incompetence — it is cruelty of the highest order.
“No serious government hides the blood of its citizens to protect political optics.
“A government that cannot protect the living but seeks to censor evidence of their deaths has lost every moral right to govern.”
Describing the situation as a national disgrace, Atiku said Nigerians deserve more than “performative outrage and ceremonial condolences.”
“This is a moral failure, a leadership failure, a national disgrace,” he added.
“Nigerians deserve a government that protects lives, defends communities, and acts before tragedy strikes — not one that only reacts after the damage is done.”
He called for the immediate rescue of all abducted victims in Oyo State, urgent security intervention across vulnerable communities, and a comprehensive overhaul of Nigeria’s security architecture.